Germany not to be 'counter-pole' to US: Schroeder

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Germany not to be 'counter-pole' to US: Schroeder

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he would take a "mediating" position over a new UN resolution on Iraq when he address the United Nations later this week.

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German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he would take a "mediating" position over a new UN resolution on Iraq when he address the United Nations later this week.

"Germany doesn't see it as a counterpole to the United States," the chancellor said Monday before departing to New York to take part in the United Nations General Assembly.

The German leader will address the assembly to express Germany's wish to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, local reports said.

He will also appeal for a stronger UN role in handling international conflicts.

Schroeder is scheduled to meet US President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the UN assembly in New York on Wednesday.

This will be their first one-on-one meeting in 16 months since bilateral relations were strongly strained by conflicting opinions on the US-led war in Iraq.

Bush has rejected to hold official meetings with Schroeder since last year.

But there have been increasing signs of a thaw in bilateral relations in recent weeks and Bush may be willing to put his personal dislike of Schroeder aside to improve ties between the two countries.

The meeting later this week between the two leaders will offer a chance for both sides to further warm up their chilled relations, analysts say.

Still, Schroeder has insisted that Germany would not play a military role in Iraq.

But his country is prepared for civilian reconstruction efforts or training programs, he said.

"Now it's all about reconstructing Iraq, not about a military engagement that we are not considering and for which we have no plans," Schroeder told the Handelsblatt newspaper.

"Those who favored the war as well as those who, for considerable reasons, opposed it, must now all accept their common responsibility," he said.

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